Local mentor awarded NSW Volunteer of the Year gong

We've been talking about volunteering this week and how those that give up their time for others really do help to keep our communities going.

Ralph Naden has been working with young and troubled people for about 15 years, helping Aboriginal people connect with their culture.

He joined ABC Western Plains Mornings Presenter Dugald Saunders, after stepping off the plane from accepting his award at NSW Parliament House.

"Opened my eyes up a fair bit. When they got me down just to play the didgeridoo and the welcome, and I won the Orana, and I thought that was good enough, that's big enough for me. When I got down there and they called my name out, I nearly fell over. So, it was a big achievement yesterday," Mr Naden said.

Helping youth in and around the Gilgandra region, Mr Naden said the nomination had come from a local who had seen the change in the surrounding communities.

"I just thought it was just a part of helping people, I didn't think it was volunteering, I thought it was just giving up your time...donating your time, to help people. But apparently someone's seen more in it than I thought was involved in it and nominated me."

The NSW Volunteer of the Year award isn't the only thing to acknowlege Mr Naden's work. Running the same camp out of Balladoran that has helped hundreds of people over the years, Mr Naden said the reward was in the responses.

"I've always got a pretty good response from all the kids. There's even kids now who have left some of the agencies that they were in, even got out of the juvenile justice system, still ring me from away. I've got a young bloke down on the coast, who always rings and says 'Ralph, I'm working now, I've got a girlfriend, I'm doing alright for myself - thanks to you'."